Happy 2017!!!! We are grateful for a new year and a new picture book story time series on our Youtube page. We are excited about sharing some of our favorite picture books this year as well as new art tutorials. Our first story is in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King and is entitled A Sweet Smell of Roses written by Angela Johnson and illustrated by Eric Velazquez. The illustrations in this books are fantastic and also inspired our latest Red Rose Portrait Art Lesson. Share the video below in your art room and explore our website to find more creative resources that celebrate Dr. King.

Happy New Year! We are excited about 2016 and the commemoration of Dr. King's birthday coming up in a few days. Last year we were privileged to visit the powerful memorial of Dr. King in our nations capitol which inspired this post. While there are many fantastic paintings of Dr. King, we have listed three of our favorite paintings of Dr. King that can be used as a source of inspiration for lessons in the art room. (The three paintings below are protected by copyright law and are only displayed for educational purposes. Click on each portrait to learn more about the artist who painted each portrait.)

This complementary colored portrait of Dr. King by artist, Mike Roos, reminds us that a complementary color palette can be used to create an interesting piece.

Talented artist, Fitzcarmel LaMarre created this beautiful portrait of Dr. King. A lesson that uses graphite pencils, conte crayons or charcoal to shade a close-up of this great icon would develop drawing skills.

Painted by artist Andrea Btoy, this portrait displays white typography around the face. Young artists can create a watercolor resist portrait in which the white letters can be written with white crayons or oil pastel.s and painted over with the paint.​

You can download a free coloring sheet of Dr. Martin Luther King here. Share your ideas for art lessons inspired by Dr. King by commenting below.

This past weekend, we were privileged to see the powerful movie Selma directed by Ava Duvernay and starring David Oyewolo as Dr. Martin Luther King. While watching the movie, I was reminded of this powerful image by prominent artist Jacob Lawrence. It is a depiction of the actual horrific experience in which peaceful demonstrators were met with the cruel hatred of racist individuals while trying to cross the Edmund Petis bridge in Selma, Alabama in the year of 1965. Here is a list of three simple reasons why art from past generations tends to reflect current issues in modern culture.

1. History Repeats ItselfOne of the most amazing aspects from the film Selma is that many of the racial issues that our country faced over 40 years ago is happening today.

2. Artistic Expression is TimelessWhile in certain areas, we continue to evolve in others we stay the same. The arts express the core of our humanity which struggles to evolve.

3. Art is InspirationalMany artists from the past wanted to remind society of the worst of ourselves by creating dark images that reflected human behavior. They wanted to inspire us to develop into better versions of ourselves.

We hope that you have the opportunity to see this amazing film and use the image by Jacob Lawrence to discuss how it relates to our present situation in the United States with your students or child. Also in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King day, make sure to download our free coloring sheet featuring Dr. King.

Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a creative coloring activity. This art lesson is a great way for students to practice various shading techniques. In the example, we used a cross-hatch shading technique to create a gradiated color effect. While we used colored pencils, there are many techniques/media that can be used to color this illustration. We invite you to download this free coloring sheet and share your creative ideas for coloring it.